TUCSON, Ariz. – Looking to build on the momentum created from its series win over a ranked Oklahoma State program in Tempe last weekend, Sun Devil Softball will attempt to now add a ranked road series victory to its 2026 season résumé when Arizona State travels down I-10 for a three-game Big 12 Conference series at Arizona beginning on Friday, March 20.
Series schedule
- Friday, March 20 – at Arizona, 6 p.m. MST (ESPN+)
- Saturday, March 21 – at Arizona, 3 p.m. MST (ESPN+)
- Sunday, March 22 – at Arizona, 12 p.m. MST (ESPN+)
Television
Daron Sutton and Kenzie Fowler will serve as the play-by-play and color analyst, respectively, for the weekend’s ESPN+ broadcasts.
The opposition
- With a win over Arizona on Friday night, Arizona State will have won back-to-back games over the Wildcats for the first time since sweeping a three-game series (March 25-27) in Tucson during the 2022 season.
- Arizona State won the last matchup against Arizona, 3-2, on March 23, 2025, when Kenzie Brown and Meika Lauppe combined to not allow an extra base hit to any Wildcat as a three-run bottom of the third held over the game’s final four frames.
- Arizona State will be looking for its first win over Arizona in Tucson since March 27, 2022, when the Sun Devils won, 8-0, in five innings behind a five-inning perfect game performance by Marissa Schuld.
- Arizona and Arizona State have squared off on a softball diamond 228 times since first playing during the 1971 season. Over the 55-year series history between the two, the Wildcats hold a 118-110 all-time record over the Sun Devils.
- Arizona enters the weekend series with a 21-7 season record that includes a 4-2 mark in conference play. The Wildcats have either run-ruled their opponents or been run-ruled themselves in their last 12 consecutive games, a streak that dates to a 12-2 loss in five innings against then-No. 3 Texas in Palo Alto, Calif., on Sunday, Feb. 22.
Leading off
- With her next win, Arizona State’s fourth-year softball head coach Megan Bartlett (99-85) will earn her 100th win at the helm of the Sun Devil softball program.
- Bartlett (99) will join Linda Wells (561), Mary Littlewood (509), Clint Myers (427) and Trisha Ford (212) as the only head coaches in program history to reach the 100-win milestone.
- Bartlett will enter the weekend series with a 240-193 (.554) career coaching record that spans nine seasons between Ball State (2016-20) and Arizona State (2023-26).
- With the release of NFCA’s latest poll on March 17, Arizona State has been ranked inside the organization’s top 25 for five consecutive polls, marking the longest such streak for the Sun Devils since being ranked for 42 consecutive polls between June 11, 2019 to Feb. 14, 2023.
- Arizona’s third assistant coach is Amber Freeman, who was a three-time NFCA All-American over a four-season (2012-15) playing career at Arizona State.
- Freeman was named the 2013 Pac-12 Player of the Year, 2015 Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year and a two-time CSC Academic All-American.
- Despite graduating from Tempe over 10 years ago, she remains ranked in the top five of multiple ASU career offensive categories.
- With six more home runs, the Sun Devil offense will reach the 50-home run mark for the second consecutive season, marking the first time Arizona State has hit 50-or-more home runs in a single season since doing so in each season of an 18-year span from 2006 to 2023.
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